Uneven Notes at Mariachi Festival

Somebody out there is watching over mariachi.

The five-hour program on the first night of the two-day Mariachi USA Festival, which drew a capacity crowd to the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday night, was the most uneven chapter in the event’s illustrious seven-year history. An unusually dreadful beginning was meant to encourage children’s mariachi orchestras but instead resulted in out-of-tune torture, and the now-too-frequent “mariachi-pop” concoctions acted as a reminder that perhaps mariachi is dangerously turning into a race to see which group can attract more americanos.

When all seemed lost, however, the mariachi deity out there again intervened to save the night with a moving big-screen tribute to the recently deceased mariachi icon Lola Beltran; a surprise appearance by legendary Miguel “Trompetas” Martinez, the first trumpet for the Mariachi Vargas back in 1941 (and the second ever to play trumpet in a mariachi orchestra); and two kids who earned the first and longest standing ovation.

There were also Junko Seki, a fine Japanese singer who could perfectly pass for Mexican (if your eyes are closed); 16-year-old Nidya Rojas, an Arista Latin recording artist with one of the best female voices in mariachi; Armando Infante, son of the late Pedro Infante, mariachi’s greatest legend; and non-mariachi Quetzalcoatl, a first-rate instrumental and vocal folkloric group that struggled early with the sound and whose mellow style, though extremely well-crafted, was overmatched by the loudness and power of the mariachis (imagine Ace of Base following Metallica).

Other highlights included the all-female Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles--solid when straight ahead, not so when trying a homage to Selena with a weak version of “Bidi bidi bom bom”; Fontana-based festival first-timer Mariachi Internacional de Mexico (again, impressive only when playing traditional mariachi); always strong Florida-based Mariachi Cobre and up-and-coming Los Angeles-based Mariachi Estrella de Mexico, the best among the young orchestras.

But it was a pair of kids who stole the night. Bell Gardens resident Tatiana Bolan~os, 7, and Guadalajara’s Gerardito Fernandez, 10, singing in a duet after their respective solo sets, stopped the show with a memorable medley of mariachi ballads. Forget their cuteness--these two really can sing.

Jose Hernandez’s Sol de Mexico, from South El Monte and arguably the country’s best mariachi, offered its usual Agustin Lara medley, a Glenn Miller mariachi-ized swing potpourri and even a comic version of “My Way,” complete with yet another Elvis impersonator. Sol de Mexico’s usual superb arrangements, skilled musicianship and the vocal talent of Adan Ramirez (the mariachi “Elvis”) saved the performance.

Hernandez explained that experiments with American pop are directed at “those who believe that mariachis are only a bunch of fat guys who can’t play anything but rancheras.”

But those fat guys are responsible for some of this century’s most beautiful Latin American folk. It’s time for mariachis to realize that the future of mariachi lies in its ability to please new generations through evolution, not distortions of the old tradition.